I have a source that consistently fails to load embedded subtitles in Plex, and I dug into the file and found that it has several subtitles in multiple languages in .ASS format embedded. This seemed normal to me so I loaded up the file in VLC and the subtitles looked fantastic.
Plex docs don’t offer any further troubleshooting if .ASS files aren’t working, and I’m a little puzzled on where to look next. If anyone on these forums has ideas on what kind of things Plex would trip up on here potentially, it would be appreciated.
Hi,
Thanks for the link to that MediaInfo tool.
I am using Plex server on a NAS with the most updated APK.
Client doesn’t matter for this issue. Web client doesn’t show any subtitles for this file at all, and neither does the Vizio TV client.
The source file has 1 audio stream and 9 text streams in various languages and is in .MKV file format.
Here is the output of the text export:
General
Unique ID : 104773533177433346154984457795616366159 (0x4ED2A6039BDE48868961691AC37BDE4F)
Complete name : SourceFile.mkv
Format : Matroska
Format version : Version 4
File size : 372 MiB
Duration : 23 min 42 s
Overall bit rate : 2 195 kb/s
Frame rate : 23.976 FPS
Encoded date : 2024-04-24 17:55:28 UTC
Writing application : mkvmerge v83.0 ('Circle Of Friends') 64-bit
Writing library : libebml v1.4.5 + libmatroska v1.7.1
Attachments : AdLibBT.ttf / AdLibRg.ttf / arialbd_1.ttf / arialbi_1.ttf / ariali_1.ttf / ARIALNB.TTF / arial_1.ttf / ariblk_1.ttf / balonxb.ttf / BelweBdBTBold.ttf / BRITANIC.TTF / CHILLER.TTF / comicbd_0.ttf / comici_0.ttf / comicz_0.ttf / comic_0.ttf / consolab_0.ttf / COOPBL.ttf / courbd_1.ttf / cour_1.ttf / DejaVuSans-Bold.ttf / DejaVuSansCondensed-Bold.ttf / domcasn.ttf / ebrimabd_0.ttf / Eraser.ttf / FirstGrader.ttf / Freeh471.ttf / FRHND471.TTF / Garamond Bold font.ttf / georgiab_0.ttf / georgiai_0.ttf / georgiaz_0.ttf / georgia_0.ttf / impact_0.ttf / Impress.ttf / JAPAB_.TTF / Rubik-Bold.ttf / Rubik-Light.ttf / Rubik-Regular.ttf / segoeprb_0.ttf / SQR721KN.TTF / SqueakyChalkSound.ttf / STAC222N.TTF / Stacc222.ttf / staccato 555 bt.ttf / Swis721_BT_Bold.ttf / tahomabd_0.ttf / tahoma_1.ttf / timesbd_1.ttf / timesbi_1.ttf / timesi_1.ttf / times_3.ttf / Tonic Regular.ttf / trebucbd_0.ttf / trebucbi_0.ttf / trebucit_0.ttf / trebuc_0.ttf / VAGRoundedBT.ttf / verdanab_0.ttf / verdanaz_0.ttf / verdana_0.ttf / AdobeArabic-Bold.otf / AdobeArabic-BoldItalic.otf / AdobeArabic-Italic.otf / AdobeArabic-Regular.otf
Video
ID : 1
Format : AVC
Format/Info : Advanced Video Codec
Format profile : Main@L3.1
Format settings : CABAC / 6 Ref Frames
Format settings, CABAC : Yes
Format settings, Reference frames : 6 frames
Codec ID : V_MPEG4/ISO/AVC
Duration : 23 min 40 s
Bit rate : 2 000 kb/s
Width : 848 pixels
Height : 480 pixels
Display aspect ratio : 16:9
Frame rate mode : Constant
Frame rate : 23.976 (24000/1001) FPS
Color space : YUV
Chroma subsampling : 4:2:0
Bit depth : 8 bits
Scan type : Progressive
Bits/(Pixel*Frame) : 0.205
Stream size : 338 MiB (91%)
Writing library : x264 core 142
Encoding settings : cabac=1 / ref=6 / deblock=1:1:1 / analyse=0x1:0x111 / me=umh / subme=8 / psy=1 / psy_rd=0.40:0.00 / mixed_ref=1 / me_range=16 / chroma_me=1 / trellis=1 / 8x8dct=0 / cqm=0 / deadzone=21,11 / fast_pskip=1 / chroma_qp_offset=-2 / threads=6 / lookahead_threads=1 / sliced_threads=0 / nr=0 / decimate=1 / interlaced=0 / bluray_compat=0 / constrained_intra=0 / bframes=0 / weightp=2 / keyint=96 / keyint_min=48 / scenecut=40 / intra_refresh=0 / rc_lookahead=48 / rc=2pass / mbtree=1 / bitrate=2000 / ratetol=1.0 / qcomp=0.60 / qpmin=0 / qpmax=69 / qpstep=4 / cplxblur=20.0 / qblur=0.5 / vbv_maxrate=3000 / vbv_bufsize=4500 / nal_hrd=none / filler=0 / ip_ratio=1.40 / aq=1:0.60
Language : Japanese
Default : Yes
Forced : No
Audio
ID : 2
Format : AAC LC
Format/Info : Advanced Audio Codec Low Complexity
Codec ID : A_AAC-2
Duration : 23 min 40 s
Bit rate : 128 kb/s
Channel(s) : 2 channels
Channel layout : L R
Sampling rate : 44.1 kHz
Frame rate : 43.066 FPS (1024 SPF)
Compression mode : Lossy
Stream size : 21.7 MiB (6%)
Language : Japanese
Default : Yes
Forced : No
Text #1
ID : 3
Format : ASS
Codec ID : S_TEXT/ASS
Codec ID/Info : Advanced Sub Station Alpha
Duration : 23 min 31 s
Bit rate : 114 b/s
Frame rate : 0.218 FPS
Count of elements : 308
Compression mode : Lossless
Stream size : 19.8 KiB (0%)
Title : English
Language : English
Default : Yes
Forced : No
Text #2
ID : 4
Format : ASS
Codec ID : S_TEXT/ASS
Codec ID/Info : Advanced Sub Station Alpha
Duration : 23 min 33 s
Bit rate : 120 b/s
Frame rate : 0.224 FPS
Count of elements : 317
Compression mode : Lossless
Stream size : 20.9 KiB (0%)
Title : Portuguese(Brazil)
Language : Portuguese
Default : No
Forced : No
Text #3
ID : 5
Format : ASS
Codec ID : S_TEXT/ASS
Codec ID/Info : Advanced Sub Station Alpha
Duration : 23 min 35 s
Bit rate : 110 b/s
Frame rate : 0.211 FPS
Count of elements : 298
Compression mode : Lossless
Stream size : 19.1 KiB (0%)
Title : Spanish(Latin_America)
Language : Spanish
Default : No
Forced : No
Text #4
ID : 6
Format : ASS
Codec ID : S_TEXT/ASS
Codec ID/Info : Advanced Sub Station Alpha
Duration : 23 min 35 s
Bit rate : 110 b/s
Frame rate : 0.211 FPS
Count of elements : 298
Compression mode : Lossless
Stream size : 19.1 KiB (0%)
Title : Spanish
Language : Spanish
Default : No
Forced : No
Text #5
ID : 7
Format : ASS
Codec ID : S_TEXT/ASS
Codec ID/Info : Advanced Sub Station Alpha
Duration : 23 min 31 s
Bit rate : 145 b/s
Frame rate : 0.218 FPS
Count of elements : 308
Compression mode : Lossless
Stream size : 25.0 KiB (0%)
Title : Arabic
Language : Arabic
Default : No
Forced : No
Text #6
ID : 8
Format : ASS
Codec ID : S_TEXT/ASS
Codec ID/Info : Advanced Sub Station Alpha
Duration : 23 min 31 s
Bit rate : 134 b/s
Frame rate : 0.223 FPS
Count of elements : 315
Compression mode : Lossless
Stream size : 23.1 KiB (0%)
Title : French
Language : French
Default : No
Forced : No
Text #7
ID : 9
Format : ASS
Codec ID : S_TEXT/ASS
Codec ID/Info : Advanced Sub Station Alpha
Duration : 23 min 35 s
Bit rate : 128 b/s
Frame rate : 0.210 FPS
Count of elements : 298
Compression mode : Lossless
Stream size : 22.2 KiB (0%)
Title : German
Language : German
Default : No
Forced : No
Text #8
ID : 10
Format : ASS
Codec ID : S_TEXT/ASS
Codec ID/Info : Advanced Sub Station Alpha
Duration : 23 min 34 s
Bit rate : 177 b/s
Frame rate : 0.269 FPS
Count of elements : 381
Compression mode : Lossless
Stream size : 30.7 KiB (0%)
Title : Italian
Language : Italian
Default : No
Forced : No
Text #9
ID : 11
Format : ASS
Codec ID : S_TEXT/ASS
Codec ID/Info : Advanced Sub Station Alpha
Duration : 23 min 33 s
Bit rate : 212 b/s
Frame rate : 0.229 FPS
Count of elements : 324
Compression mode : Lossless
Stream size : 36.6 KiB (0%)
Title : Russian
Language : Russian
Default : No
Forced : No
Menu
00:00:00.000 : ja:Prologue
00:00:44.000 : ja:Opening
00:02:15.000 : ja:Episode
00:22:05.000 : ja:Credits Start
00:23:34.000 : ja:Credits End
00:23:35.000 : ja:Preview Start
00:23:40.000 : ja:Preview End
The Network-Attached Storage device I use Plex server on accepts .APK packages. It uses a Linux based operating system called ADM, which is maintained by the manufacturer ASUSTOR.
Client types are Web Client and Vizio TV app client.
The problem with ASS subs is that not many Plex clients have native support for them (and if they have support, only a few have full support)
Because of that, it is very likely that playing such a file does require transcoding on the server. I don’t know what kind of CPU is in your NAS, but it may be simply overwhelmed by the task.
If you use a server that is not so performant and you want to use ASS subs with intricate formatting, (as is sometimes used in Anime fansubs,) then I recommend to rather use a high end client type. Like Plex for Desktop or Plex HTPC, or maybe Kodi with the PM4K addon.
That would make sense to me if it was just failing to play video the subtitles, but they aren’t showing up in the list of subtitles at all. The server does have limited RAM and isn’t upgradable unfortunately (I’m saving up for a more powerful hardware, but the next step up is quite expensive).
I wouldn’t mind investing in transcoding burn-in subtitles the files ahead of time if it would work? I routinely run my video through Plex’s optimizer because live transcoding is not my server’s strong suit, unless it’s already pretty low bitrate.
On that recommendation, I just downloaded the Plex client application for Windows and no subtitles are appearing in my source file there either - the context menu just says “None”, “Search” and “Upload” just like the web client and TV client. I feel like I am missing something important…
A possible explanation would be that there might be more than one file connected to the poster in Plex. The first one would have no subtitles, while the second one is the one which you have analysed with mediainfo.
Or could it be that the item was never properly analysed in Plex?
What does the plex media info xml say about the item?
I was able to see in the plex media info xml that the subtitles were stripped out in my Plex-optimized version! I was able to switch and see my subtitles finally. I’d not seen that happen with other subtitles but maybe these just happen to be more intricate, like you said earlier.
I guess I have to figure out now how to get the subtitles to burn-in instead of being dropped. But at least I’m not completely stuck now.
